Bear with me (I kind of want to intentionally misspell that as “bare with me”, an invitation to undress) as I lay out my strong opinions on something once again.

You should be taught skills, methods, anything broader than how to use that one tool.
Guess what I’m being taught?
Fuck man, this period isn’t going to be all that fun. Basically no programming courses whatsoever. Had the first subject today, it’s basically all about Oracle Applications Express (APEX for short). The teacher himself admitted that it’ll be giving us a lot of the “why doesn’t it work” kind of frustration, and so far, it’s all pretty tame. Tame as in lame. Super duper lame.

What APEX is, is essentially a tool for developing web applications. A bit like a CMS, if you will. Apparently it’s really popular with some companies. As for me, I see it as an easy way out of programming, with mostly cookie-cutter applications as the end-result. APEX excels at information-based applications, which is… somewhat limiting. That isn’t the worst of it though. The worst is that we’re being taught it as a subject.

Sure, some companies will kiss your feet for knowing how to deal with it, but even if you don’t it’s just one of those things you have to learn. I know jack shit about, say, Drupal, but if my job ever requires me to use it I’ll get down and dirty to learn what I need. Since APEX is a tool, the same goes for it too.
I’d much rather they teach us an actual skill. Yeah, we get those this period as well. Something about analyzing and whatever, but it’s better than “how do I use tool”. I’d make an analogy involving carpenters, but that won’t really go here. (I mean, come on, teaching a carpenter how to build a shed without first teaching him how to use a screwdriver? Tough luck, but you get my point.)

It just… sucks balls, I feel like this is pretty much useless knowledge because I think the chances are pretty big that I won’t be using APEX for my future job. No, I don’t want to use APEX for my future job. If it involves any of that shit, I’m out.

Will probably have a word about this with some folks, ’cause come on.
~ Fang

Comments

I liked the bare joke. The last application I worked on before I retired was done with Oracle database. I hated it! And what you said it totally true. I’ve forgotten everything I learned about it because it useless for anything other than Oracle applications.

Have a word and start up a riot. Well maybe not start a riot…it’s one of the annoying things about school. You can’t really pick what you learn, even when you’ve reached the stage where you actually get to pick what you’re learning.